Summary - TST 16

TRANSPORTES, SERVICIOS Y TELECOMUNICACIONES


TST 16

Mercedes Fernández-Paradas
Empresas y servicio de alumbrado público por gas en España (1842-1935).

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Key words: Lighting; Gas; Public services; Urbanism; Business history.

[ Abstract ]

The paper analyzes the evolution undergone by the gas industry for the public sector in Spain from 1842, the year in which, for the first time a Spanish city, Barcelona, enjoyed a regular gas service, until 1935. The following aspects are analyzed: the characteristics of the firms, the relationship between the gas companies and the city councils, with particular emphasis on the legal framework governing them; the number of localities that had gas lighting; the volume of gas production assigned to lighting; and the incomes generated by this business. The article also highlights the factors that explain the decline of this system of lighting in favour of electricity.